The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1887-08-19
By H. RIDER aAaeARp.

wv. oSeA SoIoles UeluX iuSnlOne0 0DD8r.
entity from a strip Of solid silver, with q bar
placed across to serve as q handle. and
some hicks cut in the edge of the bar. Il
was more like a model Of some antediluy.
ian railway key thun anything else.
Now are you both readys" 1 said. a
people do when they are going to fire .
mine. There wa no answer, SO l took the
big key, rubbed some salad-oil into the
wards, n after one or two bad shots, for
my hands were shaking, managed to ft 1t.
n shoot the lock. Leo bent over and
caught the massive lid in both his hands.
md with an effort, for the hinges had
rusted, leaned it back. Itsremoval reveal
cd another case covered with dust. This
we extracted from the iron chest without
any difficulty, and removed the accumula-
ted filth Of years from it with q clothes
brush.
Il was, or appeared to be, Of ebony. OF
some such ~closc-grained black wood, and
was bound in every direction with fiat
bands of iron. Its antiquity must have
been extreme, for the dense, heavy wood
was actually in parts commencing to crum.
BILE away from age.
"Now for it," l said, inserting the second
key.
Job and Leo bent forward in hreathless
silence. Tine key turned, and I flung back
the lid, and uttered an exclamation, as did
h others, and no wonder, for inside the
ebony case was a magnificent silver cas-.
ket, about twelve inches square by eight
high. 1t appeared to be of Egyptian work.
lnahship, for the four legs were formed Of
spliinXes, and the dome-sllaped cover was
also surmounted by n sphinx. The casket
was OF course much furnished and dimmed
with age, but otherwise in almost perfect
condition,
4 drew it out and set It on the table, and
ahen, in the midst of the most perfect sill
sacs. 4 inserted tho strengthening silver
Key. and pressed this way and That, until
at last the lock yielded, and the casket
stood open before us. 1t was filed to the
or1m with some brown shredded material.
more like vegetable fiber than paper, the
nature Of which 1 had never been ablo to
discover. This I carefully removed to tho
depth Of some three inches, when I came
70 q letter inclosed in an ordinary modern
! looking envelope and addressed in the
handwriting Of my dead friend Vincey:
Z nay sol Leo, should he Nve to open
this casket."
1 handed tho letter to Leo, who glanced
at the envelope, and then put it down upon
the table, making a motion to me to go ON
emptying the caskct.
The next thing that I came to was Z
parchment carefully rolled up. Iunrolled
1t, md seeing that it was also in Vincey's
handwriting, and headed, Translation of
. the UnicalGreek Writing on the Potsherd,'
put it down by the letter. Then followed
another ancient roll of parchment. that
had become yellow and crinkled with the
passage of years. This l also unrolled. It
was likewise q translation of the same
Greek original, but in blackletter Latin
this time. ecd sr2cc-ed Z" ma from the
style and character to date from the end Of
the fifteenth, or perhaps the middle Of the
sixteenth, century. Immediately beneath
this roll was something hard and heavy,
wrapped up in yellow linen, and .reposing
upon another layer of the fibrous material.
Slowly and carefully we unrolledt the linen,
exposing to view a very large but undoubt-
edly ancient potsherd of a dirty yellow
colorl This potsherd had in my judgment
once been u part of an ordinary amphora
Of medium size. For the rest it measured
eleven inches in length by ten In width,
was about a quarter Of an inch thick, and
densely covered on the n side, that
lay toward the bottom of the box, with
writing in the later Unical Greek charac-
ter, faded here and there, but for the most
part perfectly legible, the inscription hav-
ing evidently been executed with the great
est care, and by means of q reed pen, such
Is the ancients often used. Unjust not for
get to mention that in some remote age
this wonderful fragment had been broken
in two. and rejoined by e of cement
and eight long rivets. Also there were
numerous inscriptions on the inner side.
but these were of the most erratic charac-
ter, and had clearly been made by differ.
ent hands and in many different ages,
and Of them I shall have to speak present.
~.
sis there. anything morei" asked Leo, in
aknd Of excited whisper.
Igroped about, and produced something
hard, done up in q little linen bag. Out Of
the bag we took, first, a very beautiful
miniature done upon ivory, and secondly,
asmal chocolate-colored composition sea.
s0bDtss, marked thus: